The 2026 U Sports football season will begin on August 29, 2026, with eight Ontario University Athletics (OUA) teams opening their schedules while two more OUA teams play the following day. The RSEQ will begin play the following weekend as the Bishop's Gaiters return to the conference after a nine years in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) conference. The AUS and Canada West conferences have not yet announced their schedules.
The conference championships will be played on the weekend of November 14, 2026, and the season will conclude on November 28, 2026, with the 61st Vanier Cup championship. The Vanier Cup game will be held at Telus Université Laval Stadium in Quebec City, Quebec. 27 university teams in Canada are scheduled to play U Sports football, the highest level of amateur Canadian football.
On March 24, 2026, the RSEQ released their schedule which notably featured the return of the Bishop's Gaiters after they had left following the 2016 season to join the AUS. With the RSEQ now holding an even number of teams, the schedule was reduced from ten weeks to nine with all teams receiving a bye week over Thanksgiving weekend. The Jacques Dussault Cup game is scheduled to be played on November 14, 2026. The OUA next announced their schedule on March 27, 2026, which featured 11 teams playing over nine weeks from August 29, 2026, to October 24, 2026.
The Vanier Cup is played between the champions of the Mitchell Bowl and the Uteck Bowl, the national semi-final games. In 2026, according to the rotating schedule, the Canada West Hardy Trophy championship team will visit the winners of the Jacques Dussault Cup Québec championship for the Uteck Bowl. The Atlantic conference's Loney Bowl championship team will visit the Ontario conference Yates Cup championship team for the Mitchell Bowl. These games are scheduled to be played on November 21, 2025, while the Vanier Cup is scheduled to be played on November 28, 2026.